Personal News

Me.

Dear Friends,

I am honoured (and amazed) to share the news that I have been selected by the Government of Romania for the 2025 Ambassador Mihnea Constantinescu National Award for outstanding merits in combating antisemitism, xenophobia, radicalization and hate speech.

I am grateful for this recognition, and thank the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver, and its CEO Ezra Shanken, for nominating me.

By selecting me, I think the award committee members are making a statement about non-Jewish allies and, in a way, that message is not about courage but, conversely, about how easy it is to do the right thing. I am not being falsely modest when I say the lesson I think this sends is not that I have done anything particularly exceptional, but that doing the right thing can be relatively simple.

The work this prize represents — standing against antisemitism, hate, and distortion of history — is collective, ongoing, and carried by so many people. I see this prize as encouragement for all people to keep going, to speak clearly, and to just show up.

I’m grateful to the Romanian government for this recognition, and I hope I can honor Ambassador Constantinescu’s legacy by continuing this work — with Upstanders Canada, and in my writings on Substack, at the Jewish Independent, and elsewhere, with continued dedication, fueled, as always, by rage and caffeine.

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Ambassador Mihnea Constantinescu was a senior Romanian diplomat and respected multilateral negotiator, best known for his leadership on sustainable development and human rights within the UN system. As Romania’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, he played a key role in global diplomacy, most notably as Chair of the UN Commission on Sustainable Development in the lead-up to the 2012 Rio+20 conference, where he was widely credited as a skilled consensus-builder across deep geopolitical divides. In parallel, he was closely involved in international efforts to combat antisemitism, including contributing to discussions and support around the working definition of antisemitism adopted by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, helping advance its recognition as a practical tool for governments and institutions. He died in 2017 and is remembered for combining technical mastery with moral seriousness in service of multilateral cooperation.

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Happy new year.

Pat